The number of people in hospital with Covid in Scotland has risen dramatically over the festive period with NHS Highland numbers more than doubling.
Case numbers in Scotland are now the highest they have been since last summer.
A total of 1,305 patients are in Scottish hospitals today, according to the latest data from NHS Scotland. This is the highest number of patients since August 2022.
On December 21 there were 967 patients in hospital, meaning there has been an increase of about 35% during the two-week period during the festive season.
However, the number of patients in intensive care nationwide during the same period has only risen from eight to 10.
Regional breakdown of hospital cases
From December 21 to January 6, the number of patients in NHS Grampian hospitals with Covid increased from 57 to 74, a rise of about 30%.
Meanwhile, NHS Highland numbers have more than doubled from 12 to 31, a rise of 158%.
The highest number of patients in hospital was in Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, which had 408 on January 6, a rise of 56 from December 21.
The rise in cases comes as NHS boards across Scotland and the UK cope with extreme pressures with flu and other winter illnesses also contributing.
On December 26, 14 deaths were recorded with Covid-19 on the death certificate.
Three of these were in Aberdeen City and two in Aberdeenshire. Another two deaths were also registered in Argyll and Bute.
There were 381 new cases of Covid-19 recorded during the week ending December 21, and a further 401 on the week ending January 6, with one in 25 people in Scotland believed to have contracted the virus in the week ending December 28.
While the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that levels are the highest they have been since July last year, Scotland has the lowest levels of Covid in the UK.
One in 20 people in England are believed to be infected, as well as one in 18 people in Wales in the same week.
In Northern Ireland, one in 16 people had tested positive the week previously, ending December 22.
Michelle Bowen, head of health surveillance dissemination and strategy for the ONS, said they would continue to “monitor the data closely” after infections have risen across the UK.
She said: “In England, Wales and Scotland, cases are at the highest they have been since July 2022, and the highest they have been since March 2022 in Northern Ireland.”
Conversation